Shop small

I'm a proponent of shopping small and local all year round (with the exception of my admittedly ridiculous Forever 21 obsession). And since the big credit card company is shelling out for posters, I think we should call attention to some of the smallest of the small. ---

Possibly the smallest store in South Park (maybe in urban San Diego?), Fuchsia (3004 Juniper St.) resides in the back pocket of the Daily Scoop Ice Cream Shop. It may have more merchandise than some of its larger counterparts, though, because every inch of the shop is stuffed with trinkets and baubles, mostly of the vintage variety. Framed paintings line the walls all the way to the ceiling. There is no real aisle; it really is a teeny box of a shop, but vintage chairs and tables abound with baskets and bowls filled with jewelry and purses and pottery and knick-knacks all old and pretty and dying for a new home. The jewelry case has some beautiful reinvented pieces by local designers. And you don't have to walk far for the scoop of mint chip.

The Scarlet Letter (3182 Adams Ave.) is a tiny used bookstore made up of two teeny little rooms. It's on Adams Avenue, which not that long ago used to be home to half a dozen used bookstores. This is the kind of place you wanna poke around in for a long time, but maybe are embarrassed to because no one is ever in there and the windows are large. Get over it.

Tumbleweeds Odd Shop (3215 Adams Ave.) is also on Adams and I've written about them in Urban Scout before, but if I'm writing about small stores, I can't exactly ignore the smallest of Normal Heights, can I? Frankly, I can't think of a cooler holiday gift than handmade wood sunglasses. (Honey, are you reading this?) And now they have them in kid sizes too? But the Odd Shop also has lots of odd things. As my husband says, “It looks like a cooler version of our garage.” Yep, and my garage is where I did a lot of my Christmas shopping for friends last year.

Nov. 26 is Small Business Saturday. Look for more profiles of small stores right here leading up to the holidays.